8 killed in church bus crash

Obama seeks to strike a balance during shutdown

Stocks fall, fears of protracted shutdown grow

NEW YORK (AP) - Fear of a protracted U.S. government shutdown is making global investors increasingly nervous.

No progress on partial shutdown

Detroit missed bond debt payment

DETROIT (AP) - Detroit, not unexpectedly, has defaulted on its most recent general obligation bond debt payment, Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday. Detroit has $641 million in unsecured general obligation bonds and "no unsecured debt is being paid right now," Bill Knowling, a spokesman for state-appointed Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr, told The Associated Press. An interest-only payment of about $4.3 million was made Tuesday on $479 million in secured general obligation bonds, Nowling said. ...

News from around the nation

THE REAL CAPT. PHILLIPS GETS HERO'S WELCOME IN VT. : WILLISTON, Vt. (AP) - The captain of the American cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates four years ago returned home from sea to another hero's welcome - this time for a sneak peek of the Tom Hanks movie about the ordeal.

Firms fear loss of government checks

Novelist Tom Clancy dies at 66

Big business aligns with Obama

Judge orders monitor in profile case

PHOENIX (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the appointment of an independent monitor and a community advisory board to ensure that an Arizona sheriff is complying with constitutional requirements after finding his office engages in racial profiling.

Man pleads guilty to assault in toddler slap case on plane

Shutdown closes parks, monuments

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Visitors arrived to find "CLOSED" signs at the Statue of Liberty, the Smithsonian and other parks and historic sites across the country. Callers looking for help from the government reached only voicemail. And federal employees were left to wonder when they would return to work.

Motorcyclists pull over, beat SUV driver

News from around the nation

Town sued for denying gay bar permit

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A woman is suing the leaders of a north Mississippi town, accusing them of conspiring to prevent her from opening a gay bar by denying an application for a business license.

DCC crowd pushes through barriers to WWII Memorial

WASHINGTON (AP) - A crowd converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall on Sunday, pushing past barriers to protest the memorial's closing under the government shutdown.

Spending stumbling block to budget deal to avoid debt crisis

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Republicans and Democrats hit an impasse Sunday over spending in their last-ditch struggle to avoid an economy-jarring default in just four days and end a partial government shutdown that's entering its third week.

Dying Ohio man on gurney leads 24-year-old daughter down aisle

CLEVELAND (AP) - A terminally ill Ohio man who arrived at his daughter's wedding by ambulance gave her away, from a hospital gurney.

As Bakken booms, drug arrests spike

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - The booming Bakken oil patch that's given a major boost to U.S. energy production has emerged as a new front in the fight against drug trafficking.

Woman’s remains must be removed from yard

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday rejected an elderly north Alabama man's appeal to keep the grave of his late wife in the front yard of the home they shared for decades.

Kansas man is hit by train, gets up and walks away

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Authorities say a Kansas man who was walking along railroad tracks wearing headphones was hit by a train that he didn't hear approaching behind him - but that he got back up and kept walking. Shawnee County Sheriff Herman Jones says the BNSF conductor slowed down the train and blew the horn when he saw 25-year-old Kristopher Wenberg on the tracks in Topeka on Thursday. Wenberg told deputies he couldn't hear ...

Teen gets 3 years for prostituting minor

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Montia Parker seemed loaded with promise as she was finishing high school this spring: an honor roll student already accumulating college credit, a frequent volunteer and cheerleading captain at her suburban Minneapolis school.

Some states reopen national parks

Obamacare a success so far? It's hard to say

Boy, 11, found guilty of murder conspiracy

COLVILLE, Wash. (AP) - An 11-year-old boy was convicted Friday of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in a fifth-grade plot that targeted a female classmate. Stevens County Superior Court Judge Allen Nielsen said Friday that "simple anger" fueled the plot the boy hatched earlier this year with a 10-year-old classmate at Fort Colville Elementary school in northeast Washington. School staff seized a handgun and knife the boys brought to school Feb. 7. The judge, who ...

News from around the nation

ZOOKEEPER IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI KILLED BY ELEPHANT: SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A longtime zookeeper in southwest Missouri was killed Friday morning when he was crushed by an elephant, a spokeswoman for the city of Springfield said.